Teen punished for attacking stranger over splashing incident in swimming pool
Published on Nov 5, 2014 4:26 PM
By Ian Poh
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SINGAPORE - A 19-year-old man was so unhappy with a stranger for splashing water in a swimming pool that he bashed up the victim with four friends.
The group, which included a 18-year-old female, punched and kicked the stranger so badly that he had part of his skin torn off his forehead, leaving part of his skull exposed.
On Wednesday, the man, Desmund Luo Zhi Kai, was sentenced to reformative training, a strict regime in which offenders under 21 are kept behind bars for between 1½ and three years as they undergo structured rehabilitation programmes.
The court heard that Luo around 2.10am on June 23 last year, Luo had approached 35-year-old Pablo Sanchez Quina and his friends, telling them not to splash water. They ignored him and moved to another part of the pool. But Luo's group confronted Mr Sanchez and his friends as they were leaving, and the assault started soon after.
The victim suffered multiple injuries, including having the skin torn off his forehead, which required sutures done.
Luo pleaded guilty to being part of an unlawful assembly with intent to hurt Mr Sanchez outside Mambo Beach Club in Sentosa. His four accomplices have also been charged over the incident.
The stint Luo was sentenced to is also punishment for various other crimes he committed between March and July this year. This includes disorderly behaviour outside Liang Court in River Valley Road, threatening his mother with a chopper outside their HDB flat along Marine Terrace, and drug-related offences.
For rioting, Luo could have been jailed for up to seven years and caned.
